But What About The Senate?

President Bush has seemed to alleviate some of the doubts about Social Security Reform among Republican House members following his visit to the congressional Republican retreat in West Virginia last weekend. According to GOP whip Roy Blunt, many Republicans are excited about Personal Savings Accounts, which as he correctly describes it, will create millions of personal "lockboxes" that the government can't touch, instead of one lockbox in which the government can spend wherever and whenever it wants. This will force the government to live more within it's means, allowing individual's to spend and invest their money instead of Uncle Sam.

With the large GOP majority, I don't really expect there to be a problem passing Social Security Reform in the House. The Senate on the other hand, is a completely different story. Obstructionist Democrats seem hell-bent on preventing any progress from being made on Social Security, and the GOP still does not have enough of a majority to remove the threat of a filibuster. If the president seriously wants to see a reform bill passed, which he does, than he is going to have to personally invest large amounts of time and effort in persuading certain Senators to be brave and come along. There are several Democrats from red states that have expressed a willingness to consider a reform package, and it's important that they all are kept in the loop by the White House. The president will also have to spend some time cajoling some of the more liberal Republicans, i.e. Lincoln Chaffee, Olympia Snowe, and Susan Collins, to stick with him.

Though the House should not be taken for granted, the main obstacle in passing Social Security Reform is going to be the Senate. It is going to take a lot of hard work and maybe even some arm twisting to get it passed, but at the end of the day I believe the spending of political capitol on the part of the president will get his sensible reforms passed. If Democrats do succeed in obstructing good legislation, which is all they seem capable of, than they will face further retribution from the voters in '06.